Veteran cast brings ACT’s ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ to life

By John Olson

Before Driving Miss Daisy became an Academy Award-winning film, it was a Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Its moving story of an unlikely friendship has attracted celebrated actors. Jessica Tandy, Angela Lansbury, Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Harris and Wendy Hiller have played Daisy, a wealthy widow who reluctantly hires a chauffeur after she can no longer drive. Morgan Freeman and James Earl Jones have played Hoke, her African American driver and Dan Aykroyd and Boyd Gaines have portrayed Daisy’s son, Boolie.

Bob Hay and Cody Hamilton in ACT’s ‘The Prisoner.of Second Avenue.’ Photo by Aiden Massey.

ACT’s cast is worthy of these meaty roles
Azuay Community Theater brings the witty, heartfelt play to its stage at 14-46 Antonio Vega Muñoz from October 23 to November 1, under the direction of Deana Culp, one of ACT’s founding members. Cody Hamilton, who plays Daisy, has acted for 50 years and is a lifetime member of SAG-AFTRA, the union representing professional actors in films, television and radio. Ernest Whaley, the production’s Hoke, has been a singer and songwriter for most of his adult life. Larry Bilsky, who plays Boolie, has become one of ACT’s go-to actors, appearing in six other productions in the past two years.

Cody Hamilton brings a lifetime of experience to Daisy
Cody trained as a dancer as a child, but delivering a line in a New Mexico community theater production of the musical Promises, Promises, in which she had been cast as a dancer, sparked her interest in acting. After graduating from the University of New Mexico, she moved to Santa Fe and auditioned for dance roles and small speaking parts. In 1981, she moved to Denver, took acting classes, and signed with an agent. Work in commercials, industrial films and television enabled her to join SAG and AFTRA in 1986.

Larry Bilsky in ACT’s ‘The Outsider.’ Photo by Aiden Massey

Denver’s many professional and semi-professional theaters gave Cody leading roles in about 30 plays. She also spent a year in Los Angeles doing theater and radio voiceover work.  When Viacom Productions moved an office to Denver, it provided the opportunity to appear in TV series including Father Dowling Mysteries, Perry Mason, Unsolved Mysteries, and America’s Most Wanted, while continuing to perform in live theater. Beginning in 2004, her work as a high school counselor took her to Bahrain, Taipei, Prague, Cyprus and Bangkok, where she continued to find acting opportunities.

Cody and her husband, Michael, moved to Cuenca in 2011. An early member of Azuay Community Theater, she has performed in 16 plays and directed two. Her recent leading roles include The Prisoner of Second Avenue, It Had to Be You, Harvey and Kalamazoo. “There are many roles that I loved, but I think my favorite characters are Doris in Same Time, Next Year, Theda Blau in It Had to Be You and now Miss Daisy in Driving Miss Daisy. I adore her character and the whole script!”

Ernest Whaley says singing is acting, too
Like Cody, Ernest has performed since his youth. Growing up in one of the only Black families in a small New England town, he joined a band called Bobby Bennett and the Realms Motown Review. After military service, he moved to Southern California, where he ang in a Top 40 band from 1969 to 1975 and spent time with Eddie and Alex Van Halen, whose newly formed band would soon become famous.

Ernest Whaley (center) singing ‘Harden My Heart’ at the Central Hotel in Portland, OR in 2015.

In Northern California, Ernest studied music and industrial engineering at Humboldt State University, now California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. His first stage roles were in the operas Così fan tutte and Porgy and Bess, in which he played Sportin’ Life, the duplicitous drug dealer who sings “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”

Industrial engineering took Ernest back to Southern California, where he trained aerospace engineers to program robots. “The corporate culture wasn’t for me,” he says. “But because I had to fit in and appear to be somebody I wasn’t, I guess it was valuable as acting experience.” He later moved north to Oregon, continued his career as a “professional student” (his words) and resumed playing, singing and writing songs.

“Singing songs is acting,” Ernest says. “You’re telling a story and getting caught up in the emotions the songwriter is communicating. I’ve heard singers who have all the technical skill in the world, but they don’t show the emotions behind the words and music.” He recalls a friend who saw him perform at a club, who told him after the show he got chills from listening to him. Ernest says, “I’m trying to bring that energy to my music and theater performances. I’m not comfortable getting onstage, but once I throw myself into the moment, I’m fine. Then I’m exhausted when I get offstage.”

Ernest has continued his music career in Cuenca. His band, Synergy, plays a “gumbo” of pop, blues, Ray Charles and jazz at Bistro Yaku and other venues. After Driving Miss Daisy closes, he plans to record original songs.

L-R: Cody Hamilton, Ernest Whaley, Larry Bilsky. Photos by Janet Engelharrd.

A late start leads to a busy stage career for Larry Bilsky
Unlike his co-stars, Larry Bilsky came to acting later in life and is making up for lost time. Apart from one line in a school production of The Music Man, he did not act again until retiring to Cuenca in 2023. “I had thought about getting into acting,” he says, “but I could never find the time until I retired.” After seeing an ACT play, he told some friends, he was thinking of auditioning for the company’s next production. Encouraged by friends and comfortable with public speaking through his participation in Toastmasters, he tried out and was cast in ACT’s 2024 production of Harvey. He returned for roles in The Nightingales, The Outsider, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Goose, Moonlight and Magnolias and Dial M for Murder.

Larry says he has learned from experienced performers such as Cody and Ernest. “I respect Cody’s approach to building a character’s mindset. Acting is different from public speaking. In a speech, you are the character. In a play, your character may have beliefs and values very different from your own. Ernest is inspiring. He immerses himself in a performance, just as he does when singing for an audience.”

All three actors share a strong urge to perform, though Larry embraced it last. “If anyone has the desire to perform, I encourage them to do it,” he says. “It’s a great experience.” His role also echoes his business career: Like Boolie, Larry managed a printing company.

Azuay Community Theater presents Driving Miss Daisy at 3 p.m. October 23-25 and October 31-November 1, and at 7 p.m. October 30. Tickets are available at www.actseats.com. The theater is at 14-46 Antonio Vega Muñoz, between Coronel Talbot and Estevez de Toral, with free parking nearby.